


End of a Decade

by rinnwrites



Series: Stories from the Stark Administration [6]
Category: Captain America (Movies), Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - No Powers, First Son Tony Stark, M/M, President Howard Stark, Presidential Election, Secret Service Agent Bucky Barnes, age gap
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-02
Updated: 2018-10-02
Packaged: 2019-07-23 16:13:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,865
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16162376
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rinnwrites/pseuds/rinnwrites
Summary: It's election season, and Tony has never been more at odds with his father. Anticipation and tensions run high as the Starks campaign for a second term...while Bucky and Tony are hoping for something else all together.





	End of a Decade

**Author's Note:**

  * For [TheKitteh](https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheKitteh/gifts), [Flight_Of_Icarus](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Flight_Of_Icarus/gifts).



> This one goes out to all of you beautiful souls who have ever thought "ugh, Howard is the worst."

Campaign season, Bucky decided, was the worst thing that had ever happened to him, particularly now that Tony’s plans had changed.

The original decision was that Tony, first son or not, would stay in Boston, work on his next degree, appear for local events, and only make the trip to D.C. for crunch time, the days before the election. Bucky had been happy with that plan, and then the President had sunk in his claws. 

Public opinion was against Howard in this one. A new face had sprung from the crowds, a little known Massachusetts senator who, it turned out, had spent a career subtly staying on the right side of history, working for worthy causes and claiming none of the credit. 

This time around, the incumbent faced his true achilles heel, a genuine champion for the  _ people _ , who only stood against him after being called upon to do so, with no apparent agenda outside of mending a broken nation.

In a country that was ready for change, focused on reality and justice instead of delusions of grandeur and empty promises, Howard Stark didn’t stand a chance against Carol Danvers. 

She was the president America had been waiting for - and Stark was terrified. 

Terrified, and pulling out all the stops. 

The moment Danvers announced her candidacy, they had been called back to Washington. 

Bucky still didn’t know all the details of what had transpired. Tony didn’t really talk about it, but he’d gone into that Oval Office adamant about retaining his agency during this campaign, and he’d walked out under Howard’s thumb once more. 

Just the experience of standing there again had been jarring to Bucky, lingering protectively by that door as he had over a year ago. But this time voices were never raised, and while some threats were surely made, it seemed that when he was scared, Howard Stark was the type to strike a bargain. 

Last election, he’d promised Tony a private lab at MIT. Something he grumbled about from time to time, voicing his regret when Howard lorded it over him, even if Tony took full advantage of it, having turned it into his fortress of solitude. 

This time, it was a different carrot that he dangled, one that even Tony, having learned from the last deal he made, couldn’t turn down.

Howard offered him Stark Industries. 

Not the whole company, not yet, but a path to get there, a starting point. To Bucky, it seemed like something that should be Tony’s right anyway, for his skill and his intelligence, if not his name...but that fell somewhere in the realm of what Bucky didn’t understand about the father/son relationship the Starks shared. Everything was retained for leverage, even against family. 

So here they were, neck deep in the middle of the campaign trail, listening to yet another stump speech, shaking another host of strangers hands, posing for another photo op, regurgitating the same pretty lies about the leader of the free world. 

It would make Bucky sick, even without the moments in-between. 

Hearing Stark’s speeches and seeing his “winning” smile ad nauseum was wearing on him, but even more so was the space between Bucky and Tony, too close for comfort and so far from what they finally knew they both wanted.

Since Tony’s drunken escapade to grab for Bucky’s attention, and the near misstep in his room after, they’d managed to push away a lot of the pretences and subterfuge.

When they were together, (most of the time) and when they were alone (all too often), the line was clear. They wanted to cross it, but they wouldn’t. 

Given his way, Tony would throw caution to the wind, he’d tried to already, after all, but Bucky was steadfast, and Tony had accepted that now. 

It didn’t make it any easier. 

Long nights traveling, settled close together on campaign buses and planes, early mornings sharing quick breakfasts as they cleared out of adjoining hotel rooms just to crash into new ones after a long rally and an exhausting day of Tony faking a smile and Bucky on edge about the crowd. 

It was overwhelming, and suffocating, and they both felt trapped in it. 

Tony was always there where Bucky could reach out and touch him. If he wanted to. Or rather…if he was a weaker man. 

“There’s no way he wins.”

It was past one in the morning, and Tony was hunkered down, knees tucked tight to his chest, still in his clothes from the day, resting his head on the wall behind his hotel bed, as he watched the news without really seeing it. On the screen a recap of the 11’o’clock program played, featuring coverage of the latest in a string of identical Stark rallies. 

The words were so quiet that Bucky wouldn’t believe he’d really heard them if Tony didn’t say the same thing every night. 

“You don’t know that.” he whispered, trying for pragmatic. He left the ‘ _ but we can hope _ ’ to linger unspoken between them, like he did every night. 

“What’ll you do, after?” and that part of the act was new. 

Bucky sat up from where he’d been slouched in the armchair across the room and narrowed his eyes at Tony, who gazed back in a way that would seem totally careless, if he wasn’t cracking his knuckles the way Bucky knew he did when he was nervous. 

_ ‘I’ll follow where you lead,’ _ he didn’t say, ‘ _ I’ll give you everything you’ve ever wanted,’ _ stayed locked up tight, too. “I don’t know.” He offered instead. It wasn’t a lie. Be it four months or four years before he was free, all Bucky knew was that what he did next would still be wrapped up in Tony Stark - of that he saw no way out. He didn’t want to.

The flash of a crestfallen look didn’t escape Bucky’s notice, and that omnipresent magnetism drew him forward, out of his chair and to Tony’s side.

All of twenty-one years old, his face still mostly bare, with his eyes wide and just this side of damp, Tony looked so young, and innocent, and  _ god _ how Bucky wanted to wrap him up in his arms and never let go. 

Instead he cupped his face and leaned down to press a kiss to his forehead.

Tony’s hand came up to his wrist, fingers latching around it, eyes impossibly wider as he breathed “stay.”

Bucky didn’t know if he meant tonight, or four months from now, or four years from now, but he gave the only answer that he could, the one that would make him hate himself the least out of all the things that came to mind.

“You know I can’t.” His ‘ _ not yet _ ,’ stayed silent.

Tony’s hand fell and he shrunk back away from Bucky. 

“I’ll see you in the morning.” Bucky promised, because that’s what he could offer here and now, before he retreated into his own room for the night. 

 

******

 

It had been four years, to the day, since Tony’s life had changed forever. Four years ago Howard Stark won the 2016 Presidential Election. Four years ago, Tony stood in this very same hotel suite watching the results come in on the television with a conflicted heart. Four years ago today, Bucky Barnes had walked into his life, and promised to protect him. 

They both got more than they bargained for these last four years. Tony more protection than he sometimes wanted, and Bucky more of a burden than he should have had to bear. 

Today as they stood, a careful five feet apart and both thrumming with anticipation, it was hard to imagine a time when they didn’t know each other forwards and backwards, couldn’t read every look, flinch, sigh, or nervous tick.

The world seemed to move around them like rocks in a stream, each steady to the other inside a riot of motion, and then a hush fell over the room.

Each and every eye in the room was on the television as a breaking news banner sprawled across the screen, giving way to a prim looking, bright eyed newscaster. 

“Ladies and Gentlemen we’re bringing you breaking news, momentous news. With California, Oregon, and Washington reporting, we can now confidently predict that Carol Danvers will win the presidential election, beating out incumbent Howard Stark in an unprecedented landslide…”

The woman continued, and the silence in the room stretched out, though the newscaster’s exclamations about the incredible milestone a female president represented for the country fell on deaf ears, as everyone looked to Howard for his reaction.

The man stood, looking shocked at first, his expression turning sour after a moment, then to what Tony recognized clearly as  _ fury _ . Peggy stepped up to quietly urge Howard elsewhere to prepare to give his concession, and the man snarled at her, tugging his hand out of a startled Maria’s grasp and storming out of the room, kicking an end table over as he went. Peggy, Steve, a host of campaign staff hurried him out of the room. 

Anyone who remained looked shocked, upset, angry. 

No one noticed the smile of genuine joy that stretched across Tony’s face. No one but Bucky, that is. 

He wore one to match. 

They caught one another’s gaze, grinning like idiots, barely noticing as the rest of Howard’s staff drifted out of the room, leaving them nearly alone. 

“He lost.” Tony finally said. “It’s over.”

Bucky looked at him with fire in his eyes, and Tony felt it burn through him in the way he’d been craving for what felt like a decade. 

“It’s over.” Bucky repeated lowly, and without hesitation he grabbed Tony’s wrist, pulling him into one of the bedrooms and barely letting the door close behind them before he had Tony pushed back against it. 

Tony let it all happen, both aroused and giddy as his back hit hard wood and he pulled Bucky closer by a fistful of tie. 

Finally, blissfully, Bucky kissed him, covering Tony’s body with his, while Tony’s hands scrambled for a grip in the slick fabric of his coat.

The day’s tension melted out of both of them as Tony’s eyes fluttered closed and Bucky braced a metal hand on the door behind him to keep himself steady. 

The glide of their lips went from frantic and desperate to slow and sensual, Tony sighed a shaky breath, and Bucky took it right from his lungs, breathing in the giddy revelation that they suddenly had all the time in the world. 

It was just as his lips parted to deepen the kiss that Bucky’s comm unit crackled loudly in his ear, loud enough that they both nearly jumped out of their skin and Bucky tugged it hastily from his ear, letting it dangle by its spiral cord. 

He rested his forehead on Tony’s and they spent a moment of silence pressed together, breath minging between them, eyes alight with happiness. 

“Two months.” Bucky whispered reverently. “Two months and I’m yours.”

It was a promise, and Tony didn’t even have it in him to be disappointed. He’d already held out this long, what was two more months?

This was worth the wait. 

**Author's Note:**

> There's one more linear piece of this story in the works, then potential for some missing scenes from the four years already covered ;)


End file.
